Michael Ray Aquino
MANILA, Philippines – Former Police Officer Michael Ray Aquino cleared former President Joseph Estrada and Senator Panfilo Lacson on the deaths of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer, and driver, Emmanuel Corbito.
“Gusto ko pong malaman ng sambayanang Pilipino na wala pong utos sa akin si President Joseph Ejercito Estrada o si Senator Panfilo M. Lacson (I’d like to tell the Filipino people that there was no order from President Joseph Estrada or Senator Panfilo Lacson) to kidnap, harm and/or murder anyone specifically Mr. Salvador Dacer and Mr. Emmanuel Corbito,” Aquino said in a statement after he arrived here Sunday morning.
Lacson has been tagged as the one who orchestrated the death of Dacer while Estrada has been implicated to the killings based on the testimony of another former police officer Cezar Mancao who mentioned a certain “Bigote” as the mastermind.
Aquino said he is ready to face his accusers and ready to prove his innocence.
“I sincerely believe that this is my opportunity to clear my name, prove my innocence and finally put to rest all speculations about me,” Aquino said.
Aquino was brought to the NBI at 7:11 am accompanied by about a hundred agents in an 11 convoy vehicle.
NBI Foreign Liaison Division Chief Head Agent Atty. Claro De Castro said Aquino will be processed and booked (finger printing, medical exam-the process being undergone by a person arrested) at the NBI which will serve as his temporary detention.
De Castro said on Monday they will inform the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 18 that Aquino is already in their custody. It is still not clear, he said, how long Aquino will stay at the NBI.
“But our security management doing the arrangements here,” he said amid threats to Aquino’s life.
Aquino, who is facing charges for the Dacer-Corbito killings, arrived handcuffed and under guard at 6:40 a.m. at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2.
It was unlike his escape to the United States a decade ago to avoid the murder charges, when no one was around to document his departure and with no idea as to his whereabouts.
The former senior superintendent of the defunct Presidential Anti Organized Crime Task Force had no way out from the flashing cameras and reporters who staked out his arrival.
He arrived from Los Angeles with a stopover at Honolulu via Philippine Airlines flight PR 103. The flight was supposed to arrive at 6:05 a.m. but was delayed by 40 minutes.
Wearing a pale shirt, black jacket and cream slacks, Aquino was seen descending the escalator of the NAIA 2 arrival area near the Presidential Lounge at around 7:16 a.m.
And to assure that he won’t be going anywhere and that no unauthorized person was going near him around five agents of the National Bureau of Investigation flanked him from all sides. He was escorted by de Castro, who also fetched him from the United States early this week.
No longer a fugitive, Aquino was handcuffed though the cuffs were covered by a brown jacket. He did not wear any bullet-proof vest when he arrived.
He smiled as he descended the escalator, pausing to look at his feet and even raised his hands in the air as if to greet someone.
Aquino did not speak to the media waiting for him at the NAIA 2 arrival area near the immigration desks. But at one point, Inquirer photographer Jess Yuson snapped a shot of the former police official pouting.
Also present to supervise Aquino’s arrival were Manila International Airport Authority assistant general manager for security and emergency services Vicente Guerzon and Alger Tan, chief of the Airport Police
Department.
Only the NAIA’s in-house media or accredited reporters regularly covering the beat were allowed to go inside the NAIA 2 up to past the immigration desk.
But airport security cordoned off at least three meters of space away from the Presidential Lounge at the northwing lobby to bar reporters from entering the restricted area.
Other reporters and crew who were not allowed access to the lobby had to make do with covering Aquino’s arrival from vantage points outside the terminal.